Blurton's Co-operative Post Office staff sniff out cannabis

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Blurton's Co-operative Post Office staff sniff out cannabis stash man tried to send to stepson in Feurteventura

ALERT post office staff sniffed out a suspect package and called police – after a customer tried to post cannabis to his stepson on holiday in Feurteventura.

Workers at Blurton's Co-operative Post Office were stunned when regular customer John Chadwick tried to send the parcel which smelt strongly of cannabis.


They called in police who found 13.5 grams of cannabis with a street value of £80 at the Wimborne Avenue shop on April 24.

It emerged 51-year-old Chadwick, who lives in Wimborne Avenue, was asked to send the parcel to the sunshine island by his 28-year-old stepson Martin Smith.

Chadwick was fined £180 after admitting attempting to supply cannabis at a hearing last month.

And Smith was sentenced at North Staffordshire Magistrates' Court yesterday after police went straight around to the family's home and found £900 of cannabis belonging to Smith while he was still on holiday.

Staff at the post office today revealed Chadwick had since apologised to employees at the shop.

One of the post office workers said: "He came in to post a parcel and the smell was very obvious and I noticed it straight away.

"It smelled strongly of cannabis and we were suspicious of the parcel.

"He lives on the same street as the shop so we all know him very well, he comes in every day.

"It was like he couldn't smell the parcel and he acted completely normally.

"In the eight years that I have worked at the post office I have never come across anything like this before.

"It was certainly an unusual day, to say the least. He has come in to apologise and was very embarrassed.

"It put us in a very awkward situation because we have to report these things to the police. "But we accept his apology and I'm sure he won't be doing it again."

The court heard Smith accepted asking his stepdad to post out the drugs to Feurteventura for his own personal use.

The cannabis found at Smith's home weighed 160.5 grams.

Simon Dykes, mitigating for Smith, said: "Both were extremely foolish in thinking that this would go according to plan."

He said that young dad Smith will not be troubling the courts again.

Magistrates sentenced Smith to a 12-month community order with 100 hours unpaid work and £85 costs.